The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-02-03

know THIS: Inere IS Tor you, my nearer, q
field to culture, harvest to reap, tear to
wipe away, a soul to save. If you have
worldly means, consecrate them to Christ;
if you have eloquence, use it on the side
that Paul and Wilberforce used theirs; il
you have learning, put it all into the poor
box of the worlds suffering But if you
have none Of these-neither wealth, nor
eloquence, nor learning-you, at any rate,
have a smile with which you can en-
courage the disheartened, frown with
which you may blast injustice, a voice
with which you may call the wanderer
back to God. "Oh," you say, that is
very sanctimonious view of lifer' 1t is
not. 1t is the only bright view of life, and
it is the only bright view of death.
Contrast the death scene of man who
has measured life by the worldly standard
with the death scene of man who has
measured life by the Christian standard.
Quinn, the actor, in his last moments, said
Il hope this tragic scene will soon be over,
and l hope to keep my dignity to the last"
Malherbe said in his last moments to his
confessor: Hold your tongue! Your
miserable style puts me out of conceit with
Heaven" Lord Chesterfield in his last
moments, when he ought to have been
praying for his soul, bothered himself
about the proprieties of the sick room and
said: 'Give Dayboles a chair" Godfrey
Kneller spent his last hours on earth IN
drawing diagram of his own monument
Compare the silly and horrible departure
of such men with the seraphic glow on the
face of Edward Payson, as he said in his
last moments: "The breezes of Heaven
fan me. I float in sea of glory" Or
with Paul, the Apostle, who said in his last
hour: 81 am now ready to be offered up,
and the time of my departure is at hand.
have fought the good fight have kept
the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for
me crown of righteousness which the
Lord, MY righteous Judge, will give me-"
Or compare it with the Christian death bed
that you witnessed in your own household.
Oh, my friends, this world is a false god
1t will consume you with the blaze In
which it accepts your sacrifice, while the
righteous shall be held in everlasting re-
membranes; and when the thrones have
fallen, and the monuments have crumbled,
and the world has persisted, they shall ban.
quet with the conquerors Of earth and the
hierarch of Heaven.
This is good day in which to begin
new style of measurement. "How old art
thou?" You see the Christian way of meas
ing it. I leave it to you to say which is the
wlsest and best way The wheel of time
has turned very swiftly, and it has hurled
us on. The old year has gone The new
year has come. For what you and I have
been launched upon it, God only knows.
Now let me ask you all: Have you made
any preparation for the future2 You have
made preparation for time, my dear broth
r haun 70
eternitys Do you wonder that when that
man on the Hudson river, in indignation,
tore up the tract which was handed to him,
and just one word landed on his coat sleeve
the rest of the tract being pitched into
the river-that one word aroused his soul
1t was that one word, so long, so broad, so
high, so deep-seternity." A dying wom-
an, in her last moments, said: 90 Call it
back!" They said: "What do you wants"
"Time," she said; 'call it backw Oh, it
can not be called back! We might lose our
fortunes and call them back; we might
lose our health and perhaps recover it; we
might lose our good name and get that
back; but time gone is gone forever.
Some Of you, during the past year, made
preparation for eternity, and it makes no
difference to you really, as to the matter of
safety, whether you go now or go some
other year-whether this year or the next
year. Both your feet on the rock, the
waves may dash around you. You can say:
''God is our refuge and strength-a very
present help" You are on the rock, and
you may defy all earth and hell to over
throw you. l congratulate you. l give you
great joy. 1t is happy New Year to you.
10 all Christians it is time of gladness. l
am glad the years are going. You are COM
ing on nearer home. Let your countenance
light up with the thought: Nearer home
Now, when one can sooner get to the Gen.
ter of things, is he not to be congratulated
Who wants to be always in the freshman
class2 We study God in this world by the
Biblical photograph of Him; but we all
know we can in five minutes of interview
with friend get more accurate idea of
him than we can by studying him fifty
years through pictures or words. The lit
tie child that died at six months of age
knows more of God than all Andover, and
all Princeton, and all New Brunswick, and
all Edinburgh, and all the theological insti-
tuition in Christendom. Is it not better to
go up to the very headquarters of knowl-
edgei
Does not our common sense teach us
that it is better to be at the center than to
De clear out on the rim OF the wheel, hold
ing nesvously fast to the tire lest we be
suddenly hurled into light and eternal fe-
licity! Through all kinds of optical 1nstru-
ments trying to peer In through the cracks
and the keyholes of Heaven-afraid that
both doors of the celestial mansion will be
swung wide open before our entranced Wis
about among the apothecary
shops of this world, wondering If this is
good for rheumatism and that is good for
neuralgia, and something else is good for
bad cough, lest we be suddenly ushered into
a land of everlasting health where the in
never says: 81 am sick.'
What fools we all are to prefer the cir
conference to the center. What dreadful
thing it would be if we should suddenly be |
ushered from this wintry world into the |
May time orchards of Heaven, and if our |
pauperism of sin and sorrow should be
suddenly broken up by presentation of
an Emperor's castle surrounded by parks
with springing fountains and paths up and
down which angels of God walk two and |
two.
In 1895 the French resolved that at
Client they would have a kind of musical |
demonstration that had never before been !
heard of. 1t would be made up of the |
chimes OF bells and the discharge of can